Friday, 28 March 2014

Take my pawns, please

While I enjoy sacrificing material when I can, I am also a 'take the money and run' kind of player as well. If a player offers me a pawn or two, I tend to grab them, as I feel this puts my opponent under greater pressure not to stuff up. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
One classic example of this kind of strategy not working, was the game between Paul Keres and William Winter. It was played early in Keres's career and it was one of the games that made him famous. Winter grabbed a fistful of pawns in the opening, but leaving his king in the centre found himself facing a ferocious, and ultimately, successful attack.